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o: J. DE WITT.

. y THILLGOUPLING. 110.244.866.. *Patented July 26,1881.

ATTORNEYS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE J. DE WITT, OFHAVANA, NEW YORK.

THpILL-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patentl N o.l 244,866, dated July 26, 1881. Application tiled May 14, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom t'mafl/ concern:

Be it known .that I, CLARENCE J. DE WITT, of Havana, in the county of Schuyler and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Thill and Pole Couplin gs; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full,

' clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation, partly in sec- 4tion,of my iin proved thill-coupling; and Fig. 2

is a` perspective view of the thill-iron, clip-bolt, and thumb-nut.

The object of my invention is to lessen the labor and time required in removing or replacing the thills or pole of a vehicle; and to theseV ends it consists in dispensing with the removal ofthe ordinary bolts, eye-pieces, and rubbers, and providing each thill or pole iron with a loop, through which the projecting end of an eyepiece is passed and secured to the thill orV pole iron by a bolt passing through the thill or pole iron and secured by a thumb-nut, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, a represents a part of the axle of a vehicle, to which the clips b, each provided with a base-plate, c, havinga loop, d, at its forward end, bolt e, eyepiece h, and rubber f, all of the ordinary construction, are secured.

i represents the'rear end of a thill, to the under face of which is secured the thill-iron j, provided with a loop, 7c, near its rear end, through which loop is inserted the projecting endp of thev eye-piece h', provided with a hole registering with a corresponding hole passing through the thill, through which passes the clip-bolt l, screw-threaded at its lower end to receive the thumblnut m', provided with a loop, u, through which the strap o passes, and thence through the loop d in the hase-plate c.

It will be seen that the loops can be secured to the ends of the pole-iron as well as to the thill-irons, so that the device is adapted to pole as well as thill couplings.

By this construction it will be seen that in removing the thills from' a vehicle it is simply necessary to unbuckle the straps, remove the thumb-screws, and raise the clip-bolts, when the thills or pole can be removed without the necessity of removing the ordinary clip-bolts, rubbers, and eye-pieces, the removal of which requires much time and labor. The thills or pole can be expeditiously pnt on a vehicle by inserting the eye-pieces in the loops in the thill or pole irons and pressing the thills or pole back until the clip-bolts come opposite the holes in the eye-pieces. The clip-bolts are then forced down, the thumb-nuts secured thereon, and the straps secured in place.

It will be seen that in the above-described construction the strap o, when in position and passing through the loops d fn, will act as a nut-lock to prevent the thumb-nut m from turn- 1n g.

.What I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination, with a thill or pole iron, j, having a loop, k, on its under face, of the eye-piece 7L p, adapted to be inserted in said loop, bolt l, and thumb-nut m, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with a thill or pole iron, j, having a loop, 7c, on its under face, of the eyepiece 71. p, adapted to be inserted in said loop, bolt l, thumb-nut m, having loop n, plate c, having loop d, and strap o, inserted in said loops, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

CLARENCE J. DE WITT. 

